Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000041A
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00:01 The Bible tells us, "In the beginning was the Word,
00:04 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 00:08 It says, "To receive with meekness 00:10 the implanted Word, 00:12 which is able to save your souls. 00:14 And to be diligent to present yourself 00:16 approved to God 00:18 rightly dividing the Word of truth." 00:21 Join us now for the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:26 Our study today is 00:27 "Salvation by Faith Alone" the Book of Romans. 00:32 Well, hello and welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:36 We are so delighted that you've joined with us 00:39 and we are studying 'Salvation by Faith Alone', 00:44 the Book of Romans. 00:45 And today, we're in the second lesson 00:48 of the fourth quarter of 2017 00:51 and our subject matter today is the controversy. 00:55 Now you that are studying along with us, 00:57 if you don't have a quarterly, let me encourage you, 01:00 go to your local Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:03 and ask them for a quarterly. 01:05 They'll be happy to get one for you 01:07 or you may go online and download a copy 01:11 of the quarterly, 01:12 it's ABSG.Adventist.org, 01:16 click on the fourth quarter download it, 01:19 because we want you to have the material before you 01:22 along with your Bible as we're studying together. 01:26 Now I would like to introduce our panelists to you today. 01:30 First, we have Shelley Quinn, 01:32 Shelley always a joy to have you with us. 01:34 Pastor Lomacang, 01:35 my very own pastor and good friend, 01:38 another good friend Pastor CA Murray, 01:41 and my precious 01:43 almost like a daughter to me Jill Morikone, 01:45 such a joy to have all of you here. 01:48 You know before we get started in this wonderful study 01:52 that we've got today on the controversy. 01:54 Jill, I'm gonna ask you to open in prayer. 01:58 Holy Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus. 02:01 And we just thank You 02:02 for the privilege of opening up Your Word. 02:05 We ask right now 02:06 for the anointing of Your Holy Spirit 02:08 that You would give us ears to hear, 02:11 that You would anoint our tongues, 02:12 that Your Word would come alive. 02:15 And that we would not be hearers 02:17 only and step away. 02:19 But that we would be doers of what You have for us. 02:22 We thank You in the precious and holy name of Jesus. 02:26 Amen. Amen. 02:27 Now our memory text today is John 1:17, 02:32 would you all like to read that along with me, John 1:17, 02:37 "The law was given by Moses, 02:39 but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." 02:44 Now the early church was composed. 02:47 Again we're looking at controversy today. 02:49 The early church was composed mostly of Jews 02:53 who never for one minute thought 02:55 that by accepting the Jewish Messiah 02:59 that they were in any way turning away 03:02 from the fathers of their covenant 03:04 and the covenant promises 03:06 that God had made to His people. 03:09 The issue for the early Jewish believers 03:14 was whether Jews had to become Christians 03:17 in order to accept Jesus Christ, 03:19 and here's the controversy, 03:21 does a Jew have to become a Christian 03:26 in order to accept Jesus? 03:28 On the other hand, 03:30 the issue for the gentiles 03:31 was whether they had to become Jews 03:34 before they could accept Jesus. 03:36 So with that and this is what Paul is addressing. 03:41 The Jerusalem Council studied the issue 03:44 and determined that the gentiles 03:47 didn't need to become Jews first in order to accept Jesus. 03:51 However, there were some teachers, 03:54 they were called Judaizers. 03:56 There were some teachers 03:58 who wouldn't abide by the council's determination 04:02 and they continued teaching otherwise. 04:05 And these are some of the issues 04:07 that Paul in his love for the church had to address. 04:12 Now we have to remember Satan's two pronged approach 04:16 to destroying the early church. 04:18 And you know what? 04:19 Pastor Lomacang, 04:21 it's the same approach Satan uses today 04:23 to destroy our church 04:25 and that is persecution and destruction 04:28 from the outside. 04:29 What were the two things? 04:30 Persecution and destroy from the outside, 04:33 on the inside... 04:35 Compromise. 04:36 Deception which would lead to compromise, 04:39 still the same thing, destruction, 04:42 that comes from the inside of the church. 04:44 Now my portion to cover is Sunday 04:47 and it's a better covenant, 04:49 and I want you to turn to Hebrews, 04:51 that's Hebrews 8:6, 04:53 we're gonna get to that scripture 04:54 in just a moment, a better covenant. 04:58 We have two covenants. 05:00 Old covenant Judaism, 05:02 new covenant what would that be? 05:04 Christianity. Christianity. 05:07 We have a new, old covenant, 05:09 but we have a better covenant or the new covenant. 05:13 What event occurred to introduce 05:16 the New Testament era? 05:18 What brought in the New Testament? 05:20 It was the coming of the Messiah, 05:23 the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 05:25 And what God promised to do with the coming of Christ 05:31 was the new covenant. 05:34 Now with this new covenant, 05:36 with this new covenant of Christianity, 05:40 there was a huge transition 05:42 that had to take place for the Jews. 05:45 But it also was a huge transition 05:48 that gospel was opened up to the gentiles. 05:51 Remember Paul is the apostle to the gentiles. 05:54 So the huge transition for both gentiles and Jews 05:59 and the transition for the Jews is all they had ever known 06:04 was the old covenant of Judaism their whole life. 06:09 That's all they'd ever known. 06:10 Now there was a new covenant, 06:12 huge transition with the gentiles. 06:14 What had the gentiles? 06:16 What was the only thing the gentiles had ever known? 06:18 That would be darkness. Yeah. 06:20 And now we've got a new covenant 06:22 that is full of nothing but light. 06:24 And so it was a huge transition for them as well. 06:28 Paul's principal aim in the Book of Romans 06:31 was to help both the Jews 06:34 and the gentiles make this transition, 06:37 to transition into the church. 06:39 Now, had you turn to Hebrews 8:6, 06:42 let's read this, 06:44 "But now he has obtained 06:46 a more excellent ministry in as much is 06:49 he's also mediator of a better covenant 06:54 which was established on better promises." 06:58 So we're going to look at a more excellent ministry. 07:03 What would make it a better covenant? 07:05 Christ isn't a priest in the earthly sanctuary, 07:10 but where is Christ the priest? 07:11 Heavenly. 07:13 He's in the heavenly sanctuary 07:14 because so much of His priestly work 07:18 is performed unseen to humanity, 07:22 unseen to human eyes. 07:24 It was hard for those original Jewish people 07:29 who were learning of Jesus as their high priest to believe 07:34 that His priesthood is better than the one 07:37 that they could see with their actual eyes. 07:40 That was the old covenant priesthood. 07:43 That is one reason 07:45 why so many of them wanted to return 07:47 to the old covenant to rules and rituals 07:51 they could see and they could touch. 07:54 What they could see was what they were looking for, 07:57 what they could touch, 07:59 but we realize 08:00 this is a new covenant based on better promises. 08:04 What they didn't understand 08:06 is what you and I just take for granted. 08:08 And that's that those Old Testament priests 08:11 were nothing but a shadow. 08:14 What is more important, the shadow or the substance? 08:18 What is the substance? 08:19 Christ is the reality of things to come 08:22 and the real is always better than the shadow. 08:25 The reality found in the new covenant 08:28 makes Christ's priesthood far superior 08:32 to the earthly priesthood. 08:34 Now the old covenant was a come and see. 08:40 That's what the Jews would do, 08:42 invite people to come and see their temples 08:45 and all that they had to see what God had done for them. 08:50 But you know what the new covenant is? 08:52 Here, you've received it. 08:54 Now go tell. That's right. 08:55 The new covenant called them into Jerusalem, 08:58 the old covenant called them into Jerusalem. 09:00 The new covenant sends you 09:02 to the four corners of the earth. 09:03 Now go tell what Christ has done for you. 09:06 The new covenant is purchased by the blood of Christ, 09:10 put into effect by the Spirit of Christ 09:13 and by faith in Christ you receive it. 09:18 It's based on better promises. 09:19 Now let's look at those better promises. 09:21 The promises of the new covenant aren't better 09:25 because they're different, 09:27 but rather because of the manner 09:28 in which they were given to each and every one of us. 09:31 Although the salvation promises of the old covenant 09:35 and the new covenant believers is the same salvation 09:38 was the same old covenant, new covenant. 09:41 The old covenant saints didn't have the same clarity 09:45 of Revelation that you and I do. 09:48 In the old covenant, 09:49 how did God reveal His plan for a man? 09:53 He spoke through man, didn't come directly from Him. 09:58 How did we receive this new covenant? 10:01 Through the Son of God. 10:02 The Son of God, 10:04 Himself came to earth and spoke to us directly, 10:09 the Lord Jesus Christ. 10:11 The new covenant is better not because 10:14 its promises are different, 10:16 but because its promises came directly from God. 10:21 So we've got a better covenant based on better promises. 10:24 Now I want to tell it to you 10:25 just a minute about God's moral law. 10:28 Obedience to God's moral law 10:31 is just as much a part of the new covenant 10:35 as it was of the old covenant. 10:37 People would want to argue that point with you. 10:39 In the old covenant, 10:41 the law was written on tables of stone 10:44 and the new covenant, where is that law written? 10:48 It's written on the fleshly tables 10:51 of our heart. 10:52 The Ten Commandment law, 10:54 the moral law of God was in effect before Sinai, 10:58 before God with his finger wrote those 11:02 that moral law on those tablets of stone. 11:05 It was in effect before Mount Sinai 11:08 and it's been in effect ever since and it will continue 11:12 to be in effect throughout eternity, 11:14 do I here in agreement with that. 11:17 Remember the rich young ruler that would be Matthew 19, 11:20 if you want to turn to it. 11:21 Matthew 19:16-17, 11:25 the rich young ruler that came to Jesus. 11:28 Here's what he said, "Now behold, 11:31 one came and said to him, Good Teacher, 11:35 what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 11:40 So he said to him, 'Why did you call me good? 11:44 No one is good, but one, that is, God. 11:47 But if you want to enter into life, do something...'" 11:51 Keep the commandments. 11:53 Keep the commandments. 11:54 Revelations 12:17 says, 11:57 "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, 12:02 and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, 12:05 who keep the commandments of God 12:09 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 12:12 A better covenant, 12:14 old covenant Judaism with its tabernacles, 12:18 priesthood, 12:19 sacrifices was all about coming and seeing what we've got. 12:25 Whereas this new covenant 12:27 that we have through the Lord Jesus Christ 12:30 is all about going and telling what Jesus has done for us, 12:35 just tell the world about Jesus. 12:39 That's what the new covenant is all about. 12:42 And that's what 12:44 we are called every one of us to do 12:46 is to take the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ 12:49 and share this new covenant with the whole world. 12:52 Amen and amen. 12:53 Well, my lesson is Monday, 12:55 the Jewish laws and regulations. 12:58 And, Mollie, what you touched on just said, 13:01 it's perfect platform for this because when we think about it, 13:06 there, I grew up being taught in the Old Testament, 13:09 it was salvation by works, 13:11 New Testament, salvation by grace. 13:13 But as I study God's covenants, 13:15 I learned that salvation has always been 13:19 by grace through faith. 13:20 In the Old Testament, 13:23 just from the beginning with Moses, 13:25 that covenant was made 13:27 that his faith was accredited to him 13:29 as righteousness. 13:31 And what we see as we study 13:34 the progressive revelation of God's covenants 13:40 is we see the unfolding of one plan of salvation. 13:44 Now when we talk about the laws and regulations 13:47 in the Old Testament, 13:48 it's so convenient for us 13:50 to take those into kind of lump them 13:55 into categories. 13:57 We've got the moral law which was the Ten Commandments 14:00 which as you said was definitely in place 14:03 even during Abraham's time because in Genesis 26, 14:08 when God renewed the covenant of salvation 14:11 by grace through faith with Abraham's son Isaac. 14:15 He said he did so 14:17 because Abraham obeyed all of His commandments. 14:22 But we've got the moral law, the Ten Commandments, 14:25 we've got civil laws, we've got ceremonial laws, 14:29 there were judgments and statutes 14:32 and then health laws. 14:34 When we consider, when we say the Law of Moses typically 14:38 if it says the Law of Moses, 14:40 we're talking about Moses and the prophets, 14:42 the entire Old Testament. 14:46 But when we think about the covenants, 14:51 when we talk about the first, it wasn't God's first covenant, 14:54 it was just prior to the new covenant. 14:57 So when you think about what happened at Mount Sinai, 15:01 they came there, God wooed them by His love. 15:06 He talked to them in covenant love language 15:10 and then He says, 15:11 "Sanctify yourself because I'm gonna talk to you. 15:14 I'm gonna talk to the whole crowd." 15:17 See they had forgotten 15:18 how sinful they were and how holy God was. 15:21 So God comes down, 15:22 does a shocking all campaign on the Mount of Sinai 15:28 with thunderings and lightnings 15:29 and He speaks the Ten Commandments. 15:32 Well, the people say, 15:34 "All that God has said will do." 15:36 I think it wasn't an appropriate response myself 15:38 but they were relying on self. 15:41 Now Moses goes up the mountain, they've agreed to, 15:43 you know, the people have agreed 15:45 to in a covenant relationship. 15:46 Moses goes up the mountain. God is up there for 40 days. 15:50 God gives him the... 15:55 the laws that are going to be what they call 15:59 for the old covenant. 16:01 When he comes down and gives these to the people, 16:04 he ratifies this old covenant with the blood sacrifice. 16:11 As you said, the ratification of the new covenant 16:14 wasn't with goats or bulls but with Jesus. 16:17 And the people once again, 16:19 Moses read God's or spoke God's words to them, 16:23 then he writes God's words 16:25 and he reads God's words to them. 16:27 Once again they say, "Oh, God has said, we will do." 16:30 So Moses puts this old covenant into place 16:36 and this book that he wrote it in, 16:38 it's called 'The Book of the Covenant'. 16:39 That's the first written Word of God, 16:41 The Book of the Covenant 16:42 because everything else 16:44 was in the camp old tradition before that. 16:47 So now Moses goes back up for 40 days and 40 nights 16:50 and the people think "Where is he? 16:52 He's not here." 16:54 And they break the covenant with God and they build, 16:58 create a golden calf and start worshipping it. 17:01 And the point is this, 17:03 Moses now comes back down with Ten Commandments 17:07 that God is written with His own finger. 17:09 Moses wrote the commandments of God. 17:10 God spoke them, 17:11 Moses wrote them in the old covenant. 17:14 Now Moses comes down with written tables of stone, 17:19 God had written. 17:21 Why did God write that on stone? 17:23 I mean Moses had already spoken, 17:25 God spoke it, Moses wrote it, but now God writes it. 17:29 It's because He wanted to show 17:31 the permanency of His moral law. 17:35 So Moses finds they've broken this, 17:38 he goes, he breaks the tablets goes back up, 17:44 then God gives him two more tables of stone 17:47 written with His own finger 17:49 and he gives them some of the ceremonial, 17:54 he expands his ceremonial laws. 17:57 Now if you look at the Book of the Covenant written 18:01 three months approximately is, is when the old, 18:05 after they arrived at Sinai 18:07 is when they got the Book of the Covenant. 18:09 Then they built the sanctuary and nine months 18:14 after the Book of the Covenant, 18:16 so it's about a year into their wandering, 18:18 the sanctuary is done 18:20 and Moses writes the Book of Leviticus 18:23 with all of these laws, and statutes, and regulations, 18:28 and the health laws, 18:29 and we kind of put these in different categories, 18:33 but actually they're all very interrelated, 18:37 they overlap. 18:38 So what Moses 18:40 then does 40 years later on the plains of Moab, 18:45 he expands all of this and writes it 18:47 in what's called the Book of the Law. 18:50 The Book of the Law goes in the side of the Ark 18:53 at God's command in a pocket 18:55 that was to be a witness against them. 18:58 The book, the Ten Commandments go inside the Ark to show 19:02 that they are permanent 19:04 and they are God's definite foundation 19:09 of His government. 19:11 But the civil laws 19:13 that were based on the Ten Commandments 19:15 that were given as part of the old covenant, 19:17 they couldn't be followed most of them, 19:21 once they had come into, 19:23 when they lost their independence 19:25 and they were under Roman rule. 19:27 Ceremonial laws, all of the laws that had to do 19:31 with the sacrifices and everything 19:34 that couldn't be kept any longer, 19:36 didn't need to being kept any longer 19:38 because it was shadows 19:40 and types of things to come which Christ had fulfilled 19:44 and after the destruction of the temple 19:45 they couldn't do it anyway. 19:48 The health laws 19:50 well, now those remember were supplemental, 19:53 the health laws still apply. 19:56 We see that the health laws were introduced first. 20:00 Some of the health laws were introduced to Noah, 20:04 when there was a distinction of the clean and unclean meat. 20:08 And we see that the Ten Commandments 20:11 as Mollie aptly put it, 20:14 God says that "I'm going to give them 20:16 a new covenant 20:17 and I will write My commandments 20:19 on their heart and on their mind." 20:21 Salvation has always been by grace through faith, 20:24 but obedience has been an important expression 20:28 of our covenant relationship with God. 20:30 That shows that we love Him and we trust Him. 20:33 And when you think of, sometimes I had somebody say, 20:37 "How can you say the old covenant was salvation 20:41 by grace through faith." 20:43 Hey, the temple was the remedy for sin 20:46 and the temple showed 20:48 the plan of God salvation so perfectly, 20:52 but they could only get into that, 20:55 that second or the first compartment 20:57 of the holy place. 21:00 They could only get beyond 21:02 that once a year into the Holy of Holies, 21:04 when Jesus died, 21:06 the veil in the temple was torn in two. 21:10 We don't have to wait for a high priest to go 21:12 in once a year for us, 21:15 but rather Jesus opened a new and living way, 21:19 so that we can all, 21:21 we can go beyond just a holy place. 21:26 Worship just a holy place experience. 21:30 Now we can go right before the presence of God 21:35 into the Holy of Holies that kind of experience. 21:39 I think a lot of us unfortunately 21:42 are still trying only to live that holy place experience, 21:48 whereas Christ calls us to come forward. 21:52 So there were so many Jewish laws and regulations 21:55 and what Paul is trying to show people 21:58 and we have to be careful 21:59 when we're talking about the law of the Moses 22:01 or the book of the law, 22:03 we've to always read in context to make certain, 22:06 as you're reading Paul's writings 22:08 that you're not trying to cast doubt 22:11 the moral law, 22:12 the Ten Commandments 22:14 because they are still part of our new covenant, 22:17 but we have to carefully read in context to see 22:21 what laws he is referring to. 22:24 John. Wow! 22:26 You know, when you think about these laws 22:29 and ceremonial laws, 22:31 we often come to the reality that as confusing 22:35 as it was for the early church. 22:37 Some of that confusion is starting to resurface 22:40 in the Latter Day Church. 22:42 And that's why I want to address 22:44 this particular one, 22:46 would just entitled as the custom was, 22:49 as the custom was. 22:51 As the custom of Moses. 22:52 As the custom of Moses was. Yeah. 22:54 The customs and traditions of Moses 22:59 and the Old Testament Church 23:01 often buttressed up against the teachings of Jesus. 23:07 And we're gonna also find out 23:09 that as we look at the controversies 23:13 that were handled by the New Testament church, 23:16 we're gonna see 23:18 how some of those very same controversies today 23:20 are now beginning to spill over into the Latter Day Church. 23:23 Yes. 23:24 So as the wise man Solomon said, 23:26 "There's really nothing new under the sun." 23:29 But I want to go and talk about the customary teachings of, 23:35 one of the high points was circumcision 23:38 because at the transit, 23:39 at the transitionary stage 23:41 between the rejection of Christ and the inception 23:45 of the development of the Christian Church, 23:48 the Jews were just so adamant 23:50 that certain traditions should not die. 23:53 Now let's go to Acts 15:1, 23:55 I want to begin with one that 23:57 and I want to spend a little time on this one 24:00 because it, 24:02 it popped up in the Book of Acts, 24:05 in the Book of Romans, 24:06 in the Book of Galatians, 24:07 it continued just to go over and over 24:09 and over and over again, 24:11 and this was very pertinent to the Jewish male believers. 24:16 Acts 15:1, 24:18 "And certain men came down from Judaea 24:22 and taught the brethren, 24:24 unless you're circumcised 24:26 according to the custom of Moses, 24:28 you cannot be saved." 24:30 And so they, they forced this issue recognizing 24:33 that in the ceremonial services, 24:35 circumcision was a rite, 24:37 circumcision was a necessity 24:40 because this was not making the Jews exclusive, 24:45 but the preparation for acceptance before God. 24:47 This was an act of faith 24:49 because the removal of the flesh 24:51 wasn't something that made a person holy, 24:53 but because the Lord required of them 24:55 just as he required Naaman 24:57 to dip seven times in the Jordan, 25:00 it wasn't the first time that wasn't sufficient, 25:02 but it was just the very act. 25:04 In the very same way, 25:05 when we're told to anoint someone, 25:07 it's not the oil that makes the difference. 25:09 It's the very act of following what God commands. 25:12 And so the types of the Old Testament, 25:15 when people were willing to follow 25:16 what God commanded, 25:18 it brought them 25:19 into a covenant relationship with Him, 25:21 but the Jews had become 25:23 so hung up on the rites themselves. 25:25 They forgot what they meant. 25:26 They forgot that it was a schoolmaster 25:27 leading them to the coming Christ. 25:29 And so when Jesus came, John 5:39, 25:32 standing with the Jewish leaders 25:35 and those who were so astute in the writings of Moses, 25:40 they were searching the scriptures 25:42 and there's the Messiah standing there. 25:45 And he says, 25:47 "You search the scriptures for in them 25:49 you think you have eternal life. 25:53 But these are they which testify of me, 25:55 I'm right here. 25:57 You're looking for me here, I'm right here." 25:59 They were so hung upon the things 26:00 that they had understood. 26:02 They saw the Christ, but they couldn't see Him. 26:04 Seeing they will see Isaiah said, 26:06 "They'll not perceived hearing 26:08 they will hear but not understand." 26:09 And so this whole circumcision push 26:11 that it was necessary to keep to be circumcised 26:15 to keep the law was not pertinent 26:19 to the New Testament Church. 26:20 Look at 1 Corinthians 7:19, 26:23 Paul addresses this 26:24 and I'm gonna go to Romans in just a moment 26:26 because the whole issue was 26:27 "Are you a Jew or are you not a Jew?" 26:30 And today, we say, "We are spiritual Israel." 26:33 And we're gonna talk about that in just a moment. 26:37 1 Corinthians 7:19. Right. 26:41 Paul addresses not the physical issues, 26:43 but the spiritual issues. 26:45 He says, "Circumcision is nothing 26:48 and uncircumcision is nothing, 26:50 but keeping the commandments of God 26:52 is what matters." 26:54 And so people today when we talk about the Sabbath, 26:56 oftentimes, people say "Oh! 26:57 You're still keeping that Jewish law." 27:00 You believe in circumcision also. 27:02 No, what Paul is in essence saying, 27:04 the circumcision that is being talked about is, 27:07 is the circumcision of the heart, 27:10 the condition of the heart. 27:11 Romans 2:28-29, go there with me. 27:15 Romans 2:28 and 29, as you go there, 27:19 circumcision is from the ceremonial law, 27:22 but the Sabbath is from the moral law. 27:25 Yes. 27:26 Galatians 3:19 talked about the law was added 27:29 because of transgression till the seed should come. 27:32 But look at Romans 2:28 and 29, 27:35 the ceremonial law was established 27:37 to lead us to Christ, 27:39 but Paul puts it in the proper context. 27:41 Verse 28, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly." 27:46 That was the big boast 27:48 "nor is circumcision 27:50 that which is outward in the flesh, 27:53 but he is a Jew who is one together inwardly 27:57 and circumcision is that of the heart, 28:00 in the spirit not in the letter 28:02 whose praise is not from man but from God, but from God." 28:07 That's why David, even in the Old Testament, 28:09 living under the ceremonial right David said 28:13 "Create in me a clean heart." 28:16 Because he knew that the circumcision 28:18 didn't change his life, what he needed was a new heart. 28:22 Ezekiel talked about that, 28:23 we talked about the value of dry bones 28:24 "He'll give you a new spirit and a new heart." 28:27 He's talking about the inward condition, 28:30 but even more, 28:31 even more than this and the issues today 28:34 and I talked about this, 28:35 I think I mentioned that there are a lot of issues 28:36 the church is dealing with today, 28:38 one is the divinity of Christ, 28:41 another one is how to handle the word 'begotten' 28:44 whether Jesus was born way a trillion years ago, 28:48 whether He was begotten and I dealt with that 28:50 to really address the issue because Isaac is referred 28:54 to as the only begotten son of Abraham, 28:56 but we know he's not the only begotten son. 28:58 And the word there 'begotten' in the Hebrew means 29:00 and also in the Greek, 29:01 the derivative means 'the one preferred', 29:05 Jesus is the preferred one, not the angels. 29:08 He's the preferred one to reveal the father 29:11 not the begotten as and born and then first on the scene 29:16 before all of creation came into being. 29:19 But the issue that I want to address now 29:21 as I transition in the rest of my time 29:23 is Romans 3:23, let's start there, 29:29 Romans 3:23, 29:31 because Paul now is going to deal 29:33 with not the issue so much, 29:35 but the attitudes about the issue. 29:39 Verse 27, Romans 3:27, I think I said 23. 29:44 Yeah. 29:45 I mean Romans 3:27, "Where is boasting then? 29:50 It is excluded. 29:51 By what law? 29:53 Of works? 29:54 No, but by the law of faith." 29:57 What Paul goes on to further address 30:00 is that there is whatever the issue is, 30:05 God has established a method and the means 30:07 whereby any issue that we confront 30:10 must be handled. 30:12 A lot of times people say, 30:13 "Well, you can get into the world." 30:14 This is your opinion, Pastor CA. 30:16 Well, this is your opinion, Shelley and Mollie and Jill, 30:18 and this is my opinion and let's leave it there. 30:20 No, the Lord established a position of authority. 30:25 Go to Acts 15:6. 30:29 The Lord established a position of authority 30:31 whereby all the issues, 30:34 today we're dealing with a 2520, 30:36 today we're dealing with the feast days, 30:40 the issue of the divinity of Christ 30:43 and the list goes on and on and on and on. 30:44 Daniel 2, who was the stone 30:46 according to the Shepherd's Rod, 30:47 all these side issues, 30:49 whatever the controversy is the Lord has said, 30:53 look at Acts 15:6 30:55 and I love the way that that the lesson brings this out. 30:59 "Now the Apostles and elders came together 31:03 to consider this matter." 31:05 So when you get a group of individuals together, 31:08 Proverbs 11:14 says, "Where there is no council, 31:10 the people fail or fall, 31:12 but in the multitude of counselors there is what?" 31:15 Safety. "There's safety." 31:17 So there're individuals that say and I've traveled 31:21 and we all have traveled, we've been to places 31:22 where people say, 31:24 well, they don't like the issue 31:25 that the pastor is bringing up 31:26 or they don't like the issue that is being talked about 31:28 in the Sabbath school lesson. 31:30 They're not necessarily in harmony 31:31 with the General Conference. 31:33 They don't believe that this is... 31:36 Some people even said to me, 31:37 "Well, we shouldn't have pictures of Christ." 31:40 Or some people say it should be 'Aamen not Amen'. 31:43 I mean, this is recent, this is just a few months ago. 31:46 And I'm thinking what about the righteousness of Jesus, 31:50 what about the issue of salvation. 31:53 And so the Judges brought this out 31:55 and this is not new Judges 17:6 says, 31:58 "In those days there was no king in Israel, 32:00 everyone did what was right in his own eyes." 32:03 So here's what I'm gonna recommend to you. 32:07 Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, 32:10 "Recognize those who labor among you 32:13 and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. 32:16 Esteem them very highly in the law for their work sake, 32:20 be at peace among yourselves." 32:22 Whatever the issue, submit it to the brethren. 32:25 If they see no light in it, let it die. 32:29 And let Jesus Christ 32:30 and His righteousness reign supreme in your life. 32:33 Amen. Amen. 32:34 Well said. Well said. 32:36 If we could follow that today, 32:37 I think we would be in so much better shape. 32:40 I want to go back to something that Mollie alluded to 32:43 in her introduction to the lesson 32:46 and try to paint in some very broad strokes. 32:49 Early on, we're talking about the gentile believers. 32:54 Judaism was indeed 'come and see'. 32:58 When the children of Israel went to the sanctuary, 33:01 they're also going to school. 33:03 That's right. 33:04 The sanctuary was, it served so many functions. 33:09 It was meeting place. 33:11 It was place of judgment. 33:12 But was also a place of education. 33:13 Since you had people who were by and large illiterate, 33:16 they had to learn through symbols and signs. 33:18 And so they were accustomed to relating to God 33:22 through what they could see, what they could handle, 33:24 what they could intuit it 33:25 through their eyes and their ears. 33:27 Christianity was a whole new deal. 33:29 Your relationship with Christ was done in a different way. 33:34 There is a tendency for us to take something that is good 33:40 and defy it to our own destruction. 33:43 We, for instance, in numbers God told Moses 33:48 to avert this attack of the fiery serpents, 33:51 put a snake on a pole, look and live. 33:54 By the time we get to Hezekiah and 2 Kings, 33:57 they're worshipping that snake and pole. 34:00 So God tells Hezekiah, 34:02 you got to tear that thing down, 34:04 because instead of being something good, 34:06 it is now a curse, 34:07 because they've turned it into a God. 34:09 We tend to take something that is good 34:11 and then turn it into a representation of God, 34:15 which is why God wanted nothing that you could bow down, 34:18 no statues, no pictures, no icons, no triptychs, 34:21 because you will worship that thing 34:24 instead of God. 34:26 And so here in the New Testament, 34:27 you've got the same kind, 34:29 we need to go back to the symbols 34:31 of what made us what we are. 34:33 We've got to be circumcised. 34:34 We've got the Law of Moses. 34:35 We have these kinds of things 34:37 and then we feel comfortable in this. 34:40 This is that home for us. 34:41 This is very easy for us. 34:43 So now this Book of Romans 34:46 as we said before was written about 55, 56 A.D, 34:50 about the same time 34:52 that the Gospels of Mark and Matthew were written. 34:53 So you are very early, 34:56 you know, the Gospel of John is out with until the '90s. 34:58 So you know, you're really early in this thing. 35:01 So now the church is trying 35:02 to shape itself and shake itself 35:05 and develop those kinds of things 35:07 that will move forward, move the church forward. 35:10 So you've got a group of people who are trying to bring things 35:12 that are comfortable with them. 35:14 And you find this in many of the letters. 35:15 You know, we see in Rome, we see in Galatia, 35:17 we see in other places, 35:19 they're trying to superimpose Judaism on Christians. 35:24 So the question is, "Do I get to Christ 35:27 as a Christian going through Judaism? 35:28 Or do I get to Christ as a Jew going through Christianity?" 35:32 And of course, since the church 35:34 is being superintended by Jerusalem, 35:36 all of the structure, 35:38 the superstructure is coming from Jerusalem. 35:41 So now it's going back to Jerusalem 35:43 in what we call the Jerusalem Council 35:45 to try to wrestle with some of this stuff 35:48 and set and codify some things that will guard 35:51 the new church, 35:52 the Adventist church had this too. 35:54 We don't want any credentials for our preachers, 35:59 just go and preach. 36:00 And then people began to preach stuff that wasn't Adventism, 36:03 said, we got to do something to kind of, 36:04 we know we've got to kind of get a handle on this thing 36:06 because everybody's preaching everything. 36:08 So we come back now to the Jerusalem Council 36:11 which is wrestling with the same kind of things. 36:14 What makes you Christian? 36:16 What do we need to bring 36:18 if anything from Judaism into Christianity? 36:20 What burdens do we need to place on the Jews? 36:23 And what do we need to kind of just leave off 36:25 because it's part of an old system? 36:27 And even today as you well said and Shelley touched on it also. 36:31 Now we've got people talking about, 36:33 do we need to keep the feast? 36:34 Do we need to do other kinds of things? 36:36 Do we need to go back into Judaism 36:38 which is kind of comfortable? 36:39 Or do we embrace Christianity fully 36:41 and the grace of Christ therein? 36:45 So I'm in Acts 15, 36:47 and the lesson asked the question, 36:50 what decision did the council come to? 36:53 And what was the reasoning?" 36:55 Well, the decision 36:57 really is summed up in verse 11, 37:03 "But we believe that through the grace 37:06 of the Lord Jesus Christ 37:08 we shall be saved in the same manner as they." 37:11 That's the overarching principle 37:13 that everybody gets in 37:14 as you well intoned, Shelley, a little bit ago. 37:17 Everybody gets in the same way. 37:19 There's no works for you 37:20 and grace for me or grace for you 37:21 and works for me. 37:23 We all come in through the grace of Jesus Christ. 37:25 We as Jews go in through grace, the new Christians coming in, 37:28 the proselytes coming in going through grace. 37:30 There is no other secret way, 37:32 that's the way established by God. 37:34 Now they flesh that out in the following verses, 37:37 but that's the basic decision 37:39 that Jews, gentiles come to the Lord, 37:42 all come through the grace of our Lord 37:44 and Savior Jesus Christ. 37:46 All right, James and Peter were the lead spokesman 37:50 at this particular juncture. 37:53 Peter speaks, James speaks 37:55 and they come to a number of decisions 37:57 that they bring to the people. 37:59 And time goes so fast. 38:01 So the decisions 38:03 or the fleshing out of that decision 38:05 appears twice in Acts 15. 38:09 Let's look at Acts 15:19, 38:15 and then it is repeated in verse 29, 38:17 and I look at them both very quickly. 38:18 "Therefore, I judge that we should not trouble those 38:22 from among the gentiles who are turning to God, 38:25 but that we write to them 38:27 and to abstain from things 38:30 polluted by idols or offered to idols 38:32 from sexual immorality, 38:34 from things strangled and from blood." 38:37 Now we get the repeat and ratification 38:40 of that suggestion in verse 29. 38:46 Just a little we brings into, begins in 28, 38:48 but it's actually stated in verse 29. 38:51 "That you abstain from things offered to idols, 38:54 from blood and from things strangled 38:57 and from sexual immorality. 38:59 If you keep yourself from these, 39:02 you will do well." 39:03 You know that's enough, you know, that's enough. 39:06 You know, we learned in looking at Jewish history 39:10 along with the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses, 39:12 it had about 7,000 additional laws that they had, 39:15 you know, you got to watch 39:16 seven times up to the elbow and all, 39:18 you know, all kinds of little things. 39:19 So they took what was intended to be a blessing 39:21 and made it a burden and a curse. 39:23 And so they want to now drop this burden 39:25 on to the New Testament Christians, 39:27 and the council is saying that's too much. 39:30 I like this little thing that we see in Acts 15:10, 39:35 where Peter speaking and he says, 39:37 "You know, we are trying to put on them a yoke 39:38 that we couldn't even carry." 39:40 You know, we're trying to drop a lot of weight on them 39:42 that we could not carry ourselves. 39:43 And of course, he's not talking about the Ten Commandments, 39:45 he's talking about the additional body of laws 39:51 that they put on top of that, 39:52 you know, 3,000 steps on the Sabbath. 39:54 And, you know, you're just, you're going crazy 39:56 trying to deal with all of the stuff 39:58 and contort yourself 40:00 into all of these kinds of things. 40:01 So he's saying let's simplify it. 40:02 There're some basic things that we need to go through. 40:05 The lesson makes it plainer 40:06 and does it in kind of a cute way, it says. 40:08 You know, it doesn't mention the Ten Commandments 40:11 because that's kind of a given. 40:12 You know, there are certain things 40:14 we don't need to talk about. 40:15 When you talk about the Sabbath for Seventh-day Adventists 40:18 is part of our name, we don't really have to, 40:21 I say, John, you got to keep your Sabbath. 40:23 Well, you knew that when you came out of the water. 40:24 You know, there're certain things 40:26 you don't have to talk about anymore. 40:27 So it's not there because it's not necessary, 40:31 what is necessary is do we add all of this extra stuff, 40:34 or do we not add all of this extra stuff? 40:37 And the decision was made 40:38 that we don't add all of these things. 40:41 We don't make, try to make Christians, Jews, 40:45 before they come to Christ. 40:46 They can come directly to Christ. 40:48 And I think what Mollie said 40:49 is so very, very important in the set up of the lesson 40:52 is that now we have the example of Jesus. 40:56 The Book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians 40:59 to tell them that when you got Jesus, 41:01 you've got all you need. 41:03 And John did the same thing in the Book of John. 41:05 When you've got Jesus, when you've got the Word, 41:08 you've got all you need. 41:10 You don't need anything else. 41:11 This is enough to get you from earth to heaven. 41:14 And all of these extra things are manmade 41:17 and as such unnecessary 41:19 for the New Testament Christian. 41:23 So we can be at peace and at rest 41:26 that if we love the Lord, if we serve Him 41:28 and, of course, I could spend some time 41:30 talking about blood in the reason 41:31 though that's part of the mosaic body of work, 41:36 it becomes important 41:37 and comes through to the New Testament 41:38 because it was the blood of Christ 41:40 that cleanse us from our sins. 41:42 So there was that sort of grandfathered in portion, 41:45 to this whole thing, but it's a fabulous study. 41:48 They had to make some rules and laws, 41:50 so that the church could grow, and at the Jerusalem Council 41:53 those rules and laws were laid down 41:55 which were important 41:56 because just 15 or so years later, 41:58 Jerusalem as a city was in ruined 42:00 and everybody kind of had to stand on their own 42:04 and the church had to grow on its own. 42:05 But these basic laws of how the church is gonna grow 42:09 and what Christians need to do 42:11 were established here at the Jerusalem Council. 42:13 Amen. Well said Pastor CA. Thank you so much. 42:16 I want to look at one verse 42:17 and then my study is on Thursday, 42:20 it's Paul and the Galatians. 42:21 So we'd go to Galatians, but before we do that 42:23 and we're still in Acts, 42:24 just jump back a couple of chapters, 42:26 this verse popped in my head 42:28 when you were talking, Pastor CA. 42:30 Acts 4, and we know Peter and John were arrested 42:34 and then they addressed the Sanhedrin. 42:36 Now we're in Acts 4:12, 42:39 "Nor is there a salvation in any other, 42:42 for there is no other name under heaven 42:45 given among men whereby we must be saved." 42:48 Amen. That's right. 42:50 And so this is really the crux of the matter 42:51 of what Paul is addressing 42:53 both to the Roman Church and to the Galatians Church, 42:56 and my portion of the lesson 42:57 deals with what happened in Galatia, 43:00 and Paul's counsel to the Galatians Church. 43:02 But the issue at the heart, at the core of it, 43:06 was how are we saved? 43:08 Is this salvation by faith, 43:10 the blood of Jesus plus these other works, 43:12 plus these ceremonial laws as you stated so well, 43:15 plus these other things that were added? 43:18 Or is it just salvation by faith in Christ alone? 43:23 And Paul's answer is resounding yes, salvation by faith alone, 43:27 justification by faith alone. 43:29 That's not to push away the Ten Commandment law 43:32 and, of course, the moral law is still in effect, 43:34 that's not to push away sanctification by faith 43:37 because Romans 6 and 8, 43:39 especially, talk about that in the work of the Spirit. 43:42 Now let's jump over to Galatians. 43:44 Galatians 1, and this is after the Jerusalem Council, 43:49 was that in 1849, Pastor? 43:52 '49, '50. '49, '50. 43:54 Okay, the Jerusalem Council 43:55 that took place there in Acts 15. 43:58 After that Jerusalem Council, 44:02 we look at Galatians 1, let's take a look at this. 44:06 Now we talked about on a previous lesson 44:08 how Paul was a little stronger to the Galatians brethren 44:12 when he wrote to them than to the Church at Rome, 44:16 we're in Galatians 1, 44:17 we'll look at the first 10 verses or so. 44:19 "Paul, an apostle not from men, 44:23 not sent by humans nor through man, 44:26 not appointed by humans, 44:28 but through Jesus Christ and God, the Father..." 44:31 God met him on that road to Damascus 44:34 and called him at that time to be an apostle. 44:38 "Who raised him from the dead and all the..." 44:40 Verse 2, "And all the brethren 44:42 who are with me to the churches here of Galatia." 44:44 Paul's saying, "I'm writing to you 44:46 and what I'm going to be writing to you about, 44:48 I have the backing of the brethren." 44:50 The Church of Jerusalem Council, 44:52 they have my back. 44:54 The decision was made 44:56 and the lesson brought this point out 44:57 which I thought was really good 44:59 and the decision was made at the Jerusalem Council. 45:02 But even though the decision was made, 45:04 there were some people within the church 45:06 who decided namely the Judaizers who decided, 45:09 "We're not going to abide 45:11 by the decision of the Jerusalem Council. 45:13 We're going to teach the gentiles, 45:15 we're going to teach the new Christian believers 45:18 that they still have to be circumcised, 45:20 that there still has to be 45:21 this justification by faith plus works, 45:24 that they still have to uphold to all those ceremonial laws." 45:27 So Paul kind of gets upset about this 45:29 because he says, "It was already decided 45:31 and the church decided. 45:32 You don't have to hold to that." 45:34 Verse 3, "Grace to you and peace 45:36 from God, the Father and Our Lord Jesus Christ 45:40 who gave Himself for our sins 45:42 that He might deliver us from this present evil age, 45:46 that age beginning with Adam 45:48 all the way down through the ages, 45:50 according to the will of our God and Father 45:53 to whom be glory forever and ever. 45:54 Amen." 45:56 Then verse 6, he says, "I marvel or I am amazed, 46:01 I am awestruck." 46:03 It shows his deep displeasure you could say. 46:07 "I'm amazed that you are turning away 46:11 so soon from Him 46:14 who called you in the grace of Christ 46:15 to a different gospel. 46:17 Now I want to stop a second at that verse. 46:19 He says "I'm amazed, I can't believe it, 46:22 you knew the gospel 46:24 and now all of a sudden you are turning away." 46:27 Now in the Greek, it's present tense, 46:29 meaning this apostasy is still going on right there. 46:32 They're currently in the process of turning away 46:36 from what he had preached to them 46:38 tell what the Judaizers were teaching. 46:41 "They turned away so soon from Him 46:43 who called you in the grace of Christ 46:44 to a different gospel." 46:46 Now the word different in Greek, 46:47 there's a couple of words 46:49 that could mean different or another. 46:50 We have allos, we have heteros. 46:53 Now 'allos' means another of the same quality. 46:59 In the Gospel of John, 47:01 when Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit, 47:03 He said "I'm going away. 47:04 it's expedient, that I go away, 47:06 I will send you another Helper or another Comforter." 47:10 The word 'another' in that verse is allos, 47:13 meaning another of the same identical quality. 47:17 He said "I'm going away, 47:19 but I'm sending you someone else 47:20 who's just like me, identical to me." 47:24 In this case, he doesn't use the word allos 47:26 for a different gospel, 47:28 he uses the word 'heteros' 47:30 which means another of a different quality, 47:34 kind of like you think of the gold rush. 47:36 They went out to California looking for gold 47:38 and you're looking "I got gold." 47:40 And then all of a sudden, it's a different quality. 47:43 It might be fool's gold or a different type, 47:47 but it's not the same quality. 47:48 So it's interesting to me 47:50 that Paul uses that to me in essence 47:52 what he's saying is that the gospel 47:53 that the Judaizers are teaching you 47:55 is not on par with the gospel that I'm teaching. 47:59 It's not on par with the gospel 48:01 that the Lord Jesus Christ taught us. 48:03 This is an inferior gospel, 48:05 almost a different quality gospel." 48:07 Verse 7, "Which is not another, 48:10 but there're some who trouble you 48:13 and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." 48:16 Those who're troubling the Galatians Church 48:18 was the Judaizers, 48:19 trying to say "You had to be circumcised. 48:22 You had to keep 48:23 all of the ceremonial aspect of the law." 48:26 "And they thereby trouble you 48:29 and want to pervert the gospel of Christ, 48:32 wanted to turn the true gospel into a gospel of the law." 48:37 Paul received his gospel from the Lord Jesus Christ. 48:39 Verse 8, "But even if we are an angel from heaven 48:42 preach any other gospel to you 48:44 than what we have preached to you, 48:46 let him be accursed." 48:48 He said "Don't turn at all from the gospel 48:51 that you have originally received. 48:53 As we have said before, so now I say again, 48:55 if anyone preaches any other gospel to you 48:58 than what you have received, let him be accursed." 49:00 He reiterates it there for emphasis. 49:03 Verse 10, "For do I now persuade men or God? 49:08 Or do I seek to please men for if I still pleased men, 49:13 I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 49:17 If I still pleased men, 49:18 I would not be a bondservant of Christ." 49:21 He says, "Do I now persuade men?" 49:23 In the Greek the word 'now' comes first. 49:26 Now do I seek to persuade men? 49:29 Do I seek to gain the approval of others? 49:32 It reminds me remember when... 49:35 This is in Matthew 14, 49:38 remember when Herodias came and danced 49:41 and he said, "What should I give to you?" 49:44 And she went and conferred with her mother 49:46 and her mother said okay. 49:48 Salome, I'm sorry Herodias daughter, 49:50 I knew I had that wrong. 49:52 So Salome went and danced 49:53 and then he said "What do you want?" 49:55 And then she went to her mother Herodias 49:57 and she said, "Bring me the head of John 49:59 the Baptist on the charger." 50:00 Well and we won't turn to it, but in Matthew 14:9, 50:03 what does the Bible say? 50:05 It says because of those who sat, 50:08 he decided to go ahead and allow the beheading, 50:13 the killing of John the Baptist. 50:15 So because of influence of other people, 50:18 because of those who sat with him at the table 50:20 and Paul says, "I don't care what anyone else says. 50:24 I don't care what anyone else preaches. 50:27 I am preaching to you the gospel 50:30 that was delivered to us from Jesus Christ, 50:32 that gospel of justification by faith." 50:36 Just in closing here, 50:37 now in Paul's letter to Galatians and Romans, 50:41 he's very clear and each one of you brought this out 50:44 that we're not talking about the moral law, 50:46 we're not talking about the Ten Commandments law, 50:49 because he says in Romans 3:28, " A man is justified by faith 50:52 apart from the deeds of the law." 50:54 But then in verse 31, he says "Are we making void the law? 50:57 God forbid: we establish the law." 51:00 So he's not making void the law, 51:02 but he's talking about the importance, 51:04 the primacy of justification 51:07 we are saved by grace through faith. 51:10 And you know, I just wanted to share, 51:11 I brought my Bible, I just uncovered this Bible. 51:15 I don't know if you can see this. 51:16 This is a Bible that I received when I was six years old. 51:21 My mom and dad gave to me. 51:22 It's an NIV Children's Bible. 51:24 And I just want to open it up here 51:26 and see if I can open it. 51:31 And I remember as a little kid probably six, seven, eight, 51:34 I don't know if you can see that or not. 51:36 Six, seven, eight, 51:38 you know, the book that I studied the most, 51:41 this is the Book of Romans. 51:43 And now I have no idea what the colors mean. 51:46 There's orange, there's blue, there's yellow, 51:49 there's all of that. 51:50 But I remember even as a child being so excited. 51:54 God wanted to talk to us. 51:56 Amen. That's right. 51:57 The power in the Word of God, 51:59 so excited reading the Book of Romans, 52:02 learning about justification by faith, 52:05 learning about sanctification by faith, 52:08 learning that, in spite of all this controversy, 52:10 and even as a kid, I didn't understand all that 52:12 about the controversy and stuff. 52:14 But the concepts, the principles 52:16 that we are saved by grace through faith, 52:19 I learned as a little kid 52:20 and that carried me a long ways. 52:22 Well. 52:23 You know, Jill, that is absolutely beautiful 52:25 and I'm thinking of Martin Luther 52:27 made a statement concerning the Book of Romans. 52:29 He says, "The epistle is really the chief part 52:33 of the New Testament 52:34 and the very purest gospel." 52:37 He went on to say that "Every Christian should know it 52:40 word by word by heart 52:43 as the daily bread for your soul." 52:45 So let us encourage you to study next week's lesson. 52:49 We'll be back same place, same channel, 52:52 next week at the same time 52:54 and we want you to have studied your lesson, 52:56 but I want each one of you to have a moment now 52:59 to share some concerning this justification by faith, 53:04 righteousness by faith, those Judaizers, 53:07 you know what they were saying, they were saying 53:09 "Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ plus something." 53:12 It's not plus anything. 53:14 It's just it's righteousness 53:17 by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, 53:19 He and He alone. 53:20 What do you think about that, Pastor Lomacang? 53:22 Well, if there were any other way, 53:24 then the Bible wouldn't say there's no other name. 53:28 Jesus Himself said, "I am the Way, 53:30 the truth and the life." 53:31 He says, "No one comes to the Father 53:34 except through me." 53:35 So whenever we add anything 53:37 well, but, but, I say this, 53:43 the Sabbath will be kept by those who are saved, 53:46 but the Sabbath cannot save you. 53:48 That's right. 53:49 The Commandments of God 53:50 will be kept by those who are in a saving relationship, 53:52 but the Commandments alone cannot save you. 53:55 A good diet will be a way of life 53:57 for those who are walking with Christ, 53:59 recognizing their body temple, 54:01 but don't ever equate that to salvation. 54:03 Salvation is by grace, 54:05 grace through faith in Christ alone. 54:06 Amen. Amen. 54:08 Shelley? 54:09 You know, I was just thinking the considerable thoughts 54:11 rolling around in my head, 54:12 but I was thinking about when God created the sanctuary. 54:16 You were talking about 'come and see' religion. 54:19 It was the theology of grace in physical form, 54:23 I mean where they could actually see 54:26 and he was trying to get them where they would understand, 54:29 they couldn't be good enough to be saved. 54:34 I mean they knew for sins, atonement, 54:37 they had to go there. 54:39 Well, Jesus is also the theology of grace 54:42 in physical form 54:43 and He came 54:44 and when He introduced the new covenant, 54:48 what makes it so much more a better covenant 54:52 is that Hebrews 7:22 says, 54:54 "He is the surety of the covenant." 54:58 So He then is our promise or God's promise to us 55:04 that all of His promises are ours in Christ, 55:07 but He's our promise to God 55:09 that He's gonna work in us to do well and to do. 55:11 He stands before God and says 55:13 "Yep, I'm going to bring them to completion, 55:16 I'm going to bring them to perfection." 55:19 So if we ever attempt as Paul told the Galatians, 55:23 "For those who attempt to be saved by works of the law..." 55:30 Galatians 5:4, I think it is "You're estranged from Christ, 55:33 if you're trying to save yourself." 55:35 You know, you've fallen from grace. 55:38 It can't be works plus grace. 55:41 There's one or the other. 55:42 That's right. 55:44 Pastor CA? 55:45 It occurs to me that if you try to add to Jesus, 55:48 use a track from His sacrifice and the power of Jesus, 55:53 it has to be Jesus and Jesus only, 55:56 which is why Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel. 55:58 There's nothing to be ashamed of, 55:59 I'm not apologizing for this, 56:01 for it is the power of God unto salvation. 56:04 It's Jesus plus nothing equals everything." 56:08 Amen. Well said. 56:09 Jill? 56:11 Just a scripture, Romans 5:1, 56:12 "Therefore having been justified by faith, 56:15 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 56:19 We've been talking this whole lesson 56:20 about the controversy 56:21 that's taking place within the church, 56:23 and I think the first place to go 56:25 to have peace with God 56:27 and with each other is to come before Him and be justified. 56:30 Amen. Amen. That's right. That's right. 56:31 Well, we looked at the controversy today 56:34 that was in that early church 56:35 and Paul's attempts to bring remedy 56:38 which he did a wonderful job. 56:39 Something we're seeing it's the same issues 56:42 that they were dealing within the early church, 56:44 we're dealing within the church today. 56:47 Thank God that the Gospel 56:48 of the Lord Jesus Christ never changes. 56:51 For next week, we're gonna be looking at the human condition, 56:54 again study your lesson, 56:57 come and share with us, be with us. 56:59 We appreciate you all. 57:01 We ask for your prayers and we pray for you. 57:03 God bless you. |
Revised 2023-11-10